Steep 2-3 minutes (175 degrees, just before boil).
*Japanese green teas are the exception; they are steeped in boiling water.
General: Green tea is the oldest kind of tea and has been enjoyed for around 5,000 years. Primarily grown in China and Japan; but also Sri Lanka, Kenya, and India. The tea is produced by the orthodox method: a bud and two leaves are handpicked and withered; and skips the oxidization process. Then, in China, the tea is placed in a wok and pan fired to stop any enzymatic activity. The pan fired process gives it a vegetal (asparagus) flavor. Japan, though, steams the tea after the withering step to stop enzymatic activity. The steaming process gives it a grassy flavor. Green tea has the most amount of Catechin antioxidant (eceg) and contains more Vitamin C than lemons. Green teas continue to be studied for their potential benefits in fighting and preventing cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and dementia.
History: Green tea has been used as both a beverage and a method of traditional medicine in most of Asia, including China, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Korea and Thailand, to help everything from controlling bleeding and helping heal wounds to regulating body temperature, blood sugar and promoting digestion.
European traders were first introduced to tea in the sixteenth century during trips to East Asia. The new drink so pleased the sailors and their homelands that it became an important commodity. Even now, Great Britain's national beverage is tea, though most British tea drinkers prefer black teas.
Along with settlers, tea was shipped over to the Americas, where it enjoyed great popularity among the early colonists. In fact, tea was so popular in America that Great Britain imposed a Tea Tax in 1767 that infuriated the colonists and sparked the Boston Tea Party of 1773, where 45 tons of green tea (called "bullet" tea because of its shape during shipping) was dumped into the harbor.
Chinese Greens: Pan fired with vegetal taste.
Jasmine Pearls- Hand rolled with a sweet, flowery flavor. An authentic jasmine pearl tea is a labor of love and a true expression of beauty. The jasmine harvesting season begins in the summer. Jasmine flowers are picked and brought into rooms at night. These are placed on trays, shallow bowls, or bamboo screens (depends on the estate and tea master). The spring teas are brought out of storage and placed in the room underneath the jasmine. As night falls, the flowers open up and the aroma fills the room (The tea is very porous so it will absorb the scent of the jasmine). The flowers don’t last long, so they are typically replaced two or three times a night. This process continues for a few nights, until the tea master decides it is done.
White Monkey Paw- The name comes from the similarity of the teas curl to a monkey paw in shape and white hairy down which gives the appearance of white tea. The tea has rich and mellow aroma, and produces a light green, asparagus flavor
Dragonwell (Lung Ching or Longjing) - One of China's most famous green teas and comes from Hangzhou in Zhejiang province. This tea is carefully handmade with a smooth and perfectly flattened jade leaf along the inside vein of the leaf. After highly skilled shaping in a hot wok (pan firing), the tea is given an inviting, toasty aroma, nutty and buttery texture and pleasantly dry finish.
Japanese Greens: Steamed and grassy in taste.
Sencha- Nice, light green, grassy flavor
Matcha- Powdered green tea. Has 3 times the amount of antioxidants. Grown under canapés. Because of this the tea plant produces a higher amount of caffeine than most green teas. Full body, strong grassy flavor. The Japanese tea ceremony, or chanoyu (hot water for tea in Japanese), is more than just drinking tea; it is a spiritual experience that embodies harmony, respect, purity and tranquility. The host may prepare extensively for the event, practicing hand movements with great detail. It may be performed in the home, a special tea room, in a tea house or even outdoors.
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| Matcha Tea Ceremony. |
The Japanese tea ceremony begins with the host properly cleaning the tea bowl, the tea scoop, and the tea whisk with concentrated and graceful movement. Once the utensils are cleaned, three scoops of matcha powder per guest is added to the bowl. Hot water is ladled into the bowl and the mixture is whisked into a thin paste. More water is added as needed to create a soup-like tea. The bowl is offered to the first guest and bows are exchanged before the guest admires the bowl, rotates it, and then sips. The guest wipes the bowl and presents it to the next guest who repeats these movements. Once the final guest has sipped, the bowl is returned to the host who will rinse and clean the tea whisk and scoop again.
Houjicha- Roasty Toasty. This tea is roasted, heavy-bodied, and produces a toasted flavor. Known to aid in circulatory system, keeping you warm all day.
Genmaicha (Popcorn Tea) - Slightly grassy, slightly nutty. Made by combining sencha with toasted rice. Because the rice sometimes puffs into popcorn like shapes, genmaicha is sometimes known as popcorn tea. In some areas, this tea is served with matcha to enhance the green tea flavor.
A legend about genmaicha says that the tea was invented by accident when the servant of a samurai dropped rice into his master's tea. Infuriated by the contamination, the samurai killed the servant but drank the tea anyway, and was delighted by the unusual flavor.
It is also said that this tea was created during WWII by the Japanese soldiers in the field. They were running out of tea so they started adding leftover rice to their tea pots and continued enjoying this tea even after returning home. This is where the tea supposedly took off and became very popular to frugal Japanese housewives.
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